iMX6 TinyRex Ultra Android

Android is a mobile operating system (OS) based on the Linux kernel and currently developed by Google.

This document describes installation procedure for binary Freescale Android 7.1 image. Supported peripheral:

• iMX6 TinyRex Ultra module
• HDMI output
• USB flash as external storage
• Video playback
• Audio playback
• WiFi
• Ethernet

Android 7.1

Install Prerequisites

sudo apt-get install uuid uuid-dev
sudo apt-get install zlib1g-dev liblz-dev
sudo apt-get install liblzo2-2 liblzo2-dev
sudo apt-get install lzop
sudo apt-get install git-core curl
sudo apt-get install u-boot-tools
sudo apt-get install mtd-utils
sudo apt-get install android-tools-fsutils
sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk

Source code

Downloadable files needed during the building:

• Documentation for Android provided by NXP

• Source code with patches provided by NXP

• Voipac patches that add support for TinyRex boards

Applying Voipac patches

tar xvzf android_N7.1.1_1.0.0_source_voipac.tar.gz -C ~/workdir/imx6/android/

cd ~/workdir/imx6/android/a711-rex/device/
tar xvzf ~/workdir/imx6/android/android_N7.1.1_1.0.0_source_voipac/device_vpac-proprietary_voipac.tar.gz -C .

cd ~/workdir/imx6/android/a711-rex/device/fsl/
git apply ~/workdir/imx6/android/android_N7.1.1_1.0.0_source_voipac/device_fsl_voipac.patch

cd ~/workdir/imx6/android/a711-rex/bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx
git apply ~/workdir/imx6/android/android_N7.1.1_1.0.0_source_voipac/bootable_bootloader_uboot-imx_voipac.patch

cd ~/workdir/imx6/android/a711-rex/kernel_imx
git apply ~/workdir/imx6/android/android_N7.1.1_1.0.0_source_voipac/kernel_imx_voipac.patch

cd ~/workdir/imx6/android/a711-rex/hardware/imx
git apply ~/workdir/imx6/android/android_N7.1.1_1.0.0_source_voipac/hardware_imx_voipac.patch

cd ~/workdir/imx6/android/a711-rex/hardware/broadcom/wlan
git apply ~/workdir/imx6/android/android_N7.1.1_1.0.0_source_voipac/hardware_broadcom_wlan_voipac.patch

Build name options

• imx6tinyrex - iMX6 TinyRex Module PRO/MAX/MAX4G/ULTRA
• imx6rex - iMX6 Rex Module PRO/ULTRA
• imx6openrex - iMX6 OpenRex SBC MAX/MAX4G/ULTRA

Build type options

• user - Production ready image, no debug
• userdebug - Provides image with root access and debug, similar to "user"
• eng - Development image with debug tools

Building commands

cd ~/workdir/imx6/android/a711-rex
source build/envsetup.sh

lunch imx6tinyrex-userdebug
make 2>&1 | tee build-log-imx6tr.txt

lunch imx6rex-userdebug
make 2>&1 | tee build-log-imx6r.txt

lunch imx6openrex-userdebug
make 2>&1 | tee build-log-imx6or.txt

Compiled files are stored in the ouput directory:

cd ~/workdir/imx6/android/a711-rexout/
ls -la out/target/product/

drwxrwxr-x  6 user user 4096 7 24 07:19 .
drwxrwxr-x  4 user user 4096 8 30  2017 ..
drwxrwxr-x 11 user user 4096 8 22 21:34 imx6openrex
drwxrwxr-x 11 user user 4096 7 28 20:19 imx6rex
drwxrwxr-x 11 user user 4096 6 18  2017 imx6tinyrex
drwxrwxr-x 11 user user 4096 5  1  2017 sabresd_6dq

Binary files

Official Voipac Android files can be found in the download section.

Preparing SD card

mkdir -pv ~/workdir/imx6/android/bin/7_1/tinyrex
cd ~/workdir/imx6/android/bin/7_1/tinyrex
wget -r -nH -nd -np -R index.html* http://downloads.voipac.com/index.php?p=iMX6_TinyRex_Development_kit/module/software/android/Android_7_1/binaries
chmod a+x vpac-sdcard-partition.sh

SD card partition layout

This will be the final SD card partitioning layout at the end of installation procedure.

Partition type/index	Name	Start offset	Size	File system	Content
N/A	BOOT Loader	1 KB	1 MB	N/A	bootloader
Primary 1	Boot	8 MB	32 MB	boot.img format, kernel + ramdisk	boot.img
Primary 2	Recovery	Follow Boot	32 MB	boot.img format, kernel + ramdisk	recovery.img
Logic 5 (Extended 3)	SYSTEM	Follow Recovery	1536 MB	EXT4. Mount as /system	system.img (Android system files under /system/ dir)
Logic 6 (Extended 3)	CACHE	Follow SYSTEM	512 MB	EXT4. Mount as /cache	Android cache for image store of OTA
Logic 7 (Extended 3)	Device	Follow CACHE	8 MB	EXT4. Mount as /vender	To Store MAC address files
Logic 8 (Extended 3)	Misc	Follow Device	6 MB	N/A	For recovery store bootloader message, reserve
Logic 9 (Extended 3)	DATAFOOTER	Follow Misc	2 MB	N/A	For crypto footer of DATA partition encryption bootloader message, reserve.
Primary 4	DATA	Follow Misc	Total - Other images	EXT4. Mount at /data	Application data storage for the system application and for internal media partition in /mnt/sdcard/ dir.

Creating SD card

Based on the location where the SD card has been mounted alter and use one of these commands:

sudo ./vpac-sdcard-partition.sh -f imx6tinyrex ultra /dev/mmcblkX

#or

sudo ./vpac-sdcard-partition.sh -f imx6tinyrex ultra /dev/sdX

Setup

Bootloader

Android bootloader is stored at SD card and directly executed. Additional configuration is not required.

Setting HDMI video output

setenv bootargs "console=ttymxc0,115200 init=/init video=mxcfb0:dev=hdmi,if=RGB24,bpp=32 video=mxcfb1:off vmalloc=128M androidboot.console=ttymxc0 consoleblank=0 androidboot.hardware=freescale cma=320M"
saveenv